Kikuyu is a town in Kiambu County, Kenya, which grew from a settlement of colonial missionaries. The town is located about 20 km northwest of central Nairobi. It is about 20 minutes from Nairobi via a number of routes, including a dual carriage road, and has a railway station on the Mombasa – Malaba Railway Line. The town is named after the Kikuyu/Gĩkũyũ people, the major ethnicity that settled in the area. As of 2019 the total population is 323,881.